Employee Success & DEI: 3 Ways to Operationalize Your Strategy

Carolyn Butler-Lee is a public company officer and VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Cummins, Inc.

Employees thriving in the workplace are directly correlated to business success, yet many organizations do not understand, measure, and move the needle on their commitment to employee satisfaction. Fortunately, today, business leaders can intimately and intentionally link business outcomes to employee engagement and diversity—just like they might track progress and gaps in product quality. My approach to igniting change has always been rooted in three core elements: commitment, accountability, and perseverance. 

1. Commitment begins and ends with leadership

Many leaders tend to talk about “how” and “why” for change—but they fail to plan. I’m interested in action. That action begins in the boardrooms and C-suites of organizations, creating competitive business advantage through embedding DEI into the culture and business strategies.  

2. Accountability is in the numbers

To truly be regarded as a business initiative, you need to implement an intentional, systemic, and measurable approach to DEI with proven outcomes. 

Remember, this is no different than an organization tracking product quality. If quality standards had failed and you were losing consumers or your brand reputation was tarnished, you’d want to immediately understand your baseline and your product ecosystem and develop strategic interventions to improve. Diversity and inclusion metrics are no different.

Start by understanding your baseline. Find out where you stand today, then map a strategy for closing those gaps. For example, how much time are leaders at your organization spending with their people? How are systems designed to ensure leaders understand their role in setting clear expectations, coaching talent to succeed, cultivating engagement, and fostering innovation and a growth mindset? Also, how homogenous is your executive team? How does your succession plan support your desire for change, and what does the data show about pay equity, promotional opportunities, performance outcomes, and diversity of talent pipelines? Are disparate experiences across employee demographics reflected in attrition? Are your work environments caring and inclusive spaces where people can bring their authentic selves to work? Do you offer opportunities for employees to connect across the organization because of their shared interests? 

"Here’s the thing: You can’t keep trying the same thing, and you're wondering why you don’t get results. Not every aspect of your strategy will work."

There are numerous software tools that can help you understand these metrics; note that any use of technology to glean insights such as this must be used with the utmost integrity. Mapping your baseline and your gaps will allow you to get closer to harnessing the power of a diverse workforce to innovate for customers and deliver top- and bottom-line results.  

Perseverance to adjust the strategy 

Here’s the thing: You can’t keep trying the same thing, and you're wondering why you don’t get results. Not every aspect of your strategy will work. You’re going to have to adjust along the way. Get comfortable with experimenting, thinking in creative ways, and forging new paths. 

We have a diverse slate of recruiting strategies; we have many channels, and we focus on those that offer us a diverse slate of candidates. Traditional approaches no longer work to recruit diverse talent – you need to meet people where they are. I know when we use these channels that we have the best chances of tapping into the talent population that we know (from relentless tracking of data) is underrepresented. We have created robust talent acquisition dashboards that tell us whether we’re in the “red, yellow, or green” on hiring. And we have a disciplined approach to succession planning and assessing and forecasting changes in talent pipelines. 

Your employees extend your impact

Thriving employees are critical to your long-term success. They promote the business, and they recommend it to others. They recommend their managers to others. They create a wave of positive impact by building on your internal and external brand. Thriving employees say: 

I have confidence in my leadership team. 

I can be who I am at work. 

I believe I can achieve my full potential. 

Ultimately, leveraging the skill and capability of a diverse workforce enables thriving businesses, economies, and communities. Every organization can achieve this level of success with their employees if they have the courage to confront their reality today—just like they might a product quality issue.